So there I am, waiting in line to buy myself a cheese
empanada right? When all of the sudden I notice another dude in the store who
looks undeniably like a U.S. person, which is not that uncommon in Panama
especially around the city, but this dude is unique. He is wearing a T-shirt
that has a picture of Kentucky with an arrow going to a picture of Panama, and
something about the Louisville Church of Christ (or something like that). I
decide that I have to say hi to him and see what he is up to down here (for
those of you that don’t know, I go to a Church of Christ stateside), but before
I get the chance he is out of the store. I get my empanada and when I get out
of the store I see another guy wearing the same shirt standing with some people
by a bus, so I do what seemed appropriate and used the international Church of
Christ greeting, “Hi, I saw your shirts said you were Church of Christ. I went
to Harding.” This of course started a conversation where I told them I was here
with Peace Corps and we talked about their mission trip they were doing over
the next week. Here comes the surprise though.
At one point near the beginning of the conversation they
asked where I was from. I told them Florida and they of course asked where in
Florida. This was not your typical “O, I wonder if he lives at Disney World or
Miami” where in Florida, they seemed to really want to know WHERE in Florida,
and so I told them the Sanford area. They asked if I went to the Sanford church
and I told them yes. That’s when things got freaky. One of the dudes tells me
he is from Ocala, one says he is from Eustis, and the third guy, the one that
had already told me he lives in Panama and the church group was there to work
with him, tells me that he taught at Mount Dora Bible for 20+ years. “HOLY CRAP
IS THIS REAL” was my general thought at this moment, although I of course
remained calm, cool, and collected on the outside. He said he probably knew my
friends and I asked if he knew the Galloways, Kristin and Kara, and he said
“yeah, I taught Kara.” He then told me he lived in El Valle, about 30 or 40 min
away and they had just stopped there after picking up the group from the
airport. I told them we had just visited a volunteer’s site about an hour away
and we were 40 minutes from our dormitories. He then got my email and sent me
directions to him and told me to come visit when I got the opportunity. Upon
receiving the email I realized that he was David Carter, now time for some
perspective.
While I was still stateside Kara and Kristin Galloway’s
mother, Ronda Galloway, kept telling me that she knew some missionaries in
Panama, the Carters, and would try to get me their contact info and that I
should try to find them. I thought this sounded like a great idea, but to find
one couple in all of Panama might be difficult just logistically because of
communication and transportation difficulties that come with Peace Corps. I
could make a very good effort to find them, but depending on where they were
and where I was it could prove difficult if not impossible. So there I am,
staring at my email, blown away by the way that God works sometimes. There I am, sitting in the parking lot of
another country that I have not even been in for a week yet, meeting the ONE
man that I was supposed to find in the entire country at some roadside empanada
shop not even close to where either of us live. And there I am, sitting at the
edge of a grand adventure into the unknown realizing the I have nothing to
worry about because even when I feel all alone and nothing is going my way, I
have a mighty and amazing God on my side.
Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that
he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares
for you. – 1 Peter 5:6-7
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